Now that Easter is over, what comes next? The threshold of death has been crossed by Jesus but now he sends us out on a mission to the world! Yet, we hesitate.This week, we will encounter our risen Lord, hear his words to us and answer his call.

Now that Easter is over, what comes next? The threshold of death has been crossed by Jesus but now he sends us out on a mission to the world! Yet, we hesitate.This week, we will encounter our risen Lord, hear his words to us and answer his call.

Thresholds in the Bible climax at Jesus’ tomb. On Friday, our worship service will mark the solemn death and burial of Jesus. He is laid in a tomb, and the entrance is sealed with a large stone. This shows us the weighty reality of sin and death; this is what we face! But then, on Easter, that tomb entrance is broken open, and the entrance becomes an exit. Jesus worked the first “escape tomb” miracle! And ever since then, He comes to us to lead us out of the tomb, the grave, in which we are trapped. Because of Jesus, we can escape death!

This Sunday is Palm Sunday! We will wave palm branches in worship as a way for us to join the parade that greeted Jesus when He came into Jerusalem. It will be fun for the whole family! Yet there are dark clouds overhead: there’s a “storm” of betrayal and condemnation looming. Jesus, whom we greet with praise, will be crucified by Friday. Our service will also have this mixed message. We’ll hear how Jesus is the Gate to life and peace for us, His sheep, but we’ll also hear how Jesus earns this for us by laying down His life for His sheep. Come join the parade this Sunday, but also notice the threatening clouds overhead.

Do you hear that knocking? We can usually hear it best when all is quiet and we are alone. It’s that inner calling, tapping. Isn’t there more in life? Doesn’t my life have value...meaning? Isn’t there more to reality then what I can see? That’s Jesus knocking at your heart’s door. This is the next threshold in our Lenten message series. This Sunday we’ll listen to that knocking and learn how to open our heart’s doors to Jesus!

This week’s theme finds us at the narrow gate with the path of life beyond. We hear Jesus’ difficult words in Matthew 7:13-14 (below). Join Reese this Sunday on our Lenten Thresholds journey as she leads us perhaps to a new understanding of these verses and a new commitment to stay on the path of life.

The Narrow Gate

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Does God feel distant? Does it seem sometimes like He’s not near? The Bible shows us over and over again that God never leaves us. It is we who leave Him! Yet even when we walk away, God comes after us, chasing us down, finding ways of being with us and restoring our connection to Him. This Sunday we’ll look at the Old Testament system of sacrifice and the temple to see what lengths God has always gone to restore us back to Him.

Doors often represent a choice: do we go through or not? The next threshold in the Biblical story is the door frame in the Passover story. The Israelites are slaves in Egypt. God promises to set them free. Yet they must trust in God’s protection, and show that trust in a strange act of obedience: They must make a sacrifice and spread the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. Those that did were spared death and set free! This Sunday we’ll learn how Jesus became our Passover Lamb. Our “Door of Decision” is if we will trust in Him and live in obedience, even when the calling is strange.

We are following the overall story of the Bible, and we are telling the story by the thresholds we see. Sin brings death and destruction. In the Bible, Adam and Eve’s defiance of God leads to a closed door to Paradise and a sin-corrupted world rampant with death and destruction. The flood washes the earth, but Noah and his family are spared on the ark. When the rains came, God closed them in by shutting the ark’s door. This sign shows God’s saving grace: God provides a door of protection for us! Come this Sunday to hear how God provides a door of protection as you face destruction, death, and the storms of life.